Biotech firm moves headquarters to Valley

September 13, 2005

By Flinn Foundation

InNexus Biotechnology Inc., a drug-development company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, has selected Mayo Clinic as the home for its headquarters and research laboratories. The company cited its collaboration with Mayo Clinic as a key factor in its decision to base its facility in Scottsdale.

The move will contribute about 40 jobs to Arizona’s growing bioscience industry, according to InNexus Chief Operating Officer Jeff Morhet.

Morhet told the Business Journal that InNexus could eventually employ up to 100 people in the Valley.

The company has signed a 10-year lease to rent 15,000 square feet within Mayo Clinic’s research complex in Scottsdale, including plans for expansion. The new labs are scheduled for completion in December, with offices finished by early 2006.

InNexus is collaborating with Mayo on drug development in the areas of oncology, cardiovascular disease, and other hard-to-treat illnesses. The company specializes in improving the potency of existing antibody products to create drugs that can penetrate cells.

As the biotech firm prepares for its move to the Valley, it will also be looking at prospective sites around the country to build a large manufacturing facility to make proteins, peptides, enzymes, and drugs. An additional 150 people would be employed at the manufacturing plant, Morhet told the Business Journal.

While the Valley is in the running for the plant, Morhet said there is stiff competition because Arizona lacks certain incentives that will be a factor in his decision. For example, at a breakfast held just a few days after InNexus announced the move, Morhet told the Arizona BioIndustry Association that Arizona needs more support from the legislature, especially in the form of economic toolkits for companies of all sizes.

InNexus is the second Canadian biotech company to set up U.S. headquarters in the Valley. In 2003, Isotechnika Inc., an international biopharmaceutical company based in Edmonton, Alberta, established a base in Scottsdale.

The Valley beat out Seattle, San Francisco, and San Diego in landing InNexus’s headquarters.